Of Ancient Beasts
by Saturns-Moon
Summary: An attempt at summoning an age old monster goes terribly wrong, and one person will pay for the mistake. Will the magical world ever be the same?
1. Chapter 1

A/N: Holy crap, I actually wrote a serious story.

I don't own Harry Potter of -Man.

It was a terribly dark night. Dense clouds obscured the moon and stars, and all nearby street lamps had been smashed. The only light came from the tips of twenty odd wands, reflected eerily on the wet ground and trees, barely lighting the shadowy figures that held clutched them. One of the masked figures looked up.

"Awful night." a gruff voice muttered. "You'd think we could do this somewhere dry, at least."

"If her Ladyship wants to get soaked, what are we to question it?" Another voice sneered sarcastically, caused the first to chuckle.

A third figure shushed them both, and gestured towards the others, who were gathering into a rough circle, wands outstretched. The men hurried to join them.

A new voice spoke, this one a women's, harsh and cruel. At her words, the last whispers among the crowd died out, and the masked faces tilted in her direction.

"We gather tonight to summon a great beast of legend, half flesh, half metal. Once it is in our grasp, we will wreak havoc upon the heads of our enemies, magical and muggle alike, in the name of the Dark Lord!" Cheers broke out at her words, only to die as she continued.

"Once the beast has been summoned, it must be contained, and under our complete control. We wouldn't want any… accidents to come to us." These words seemed to frighten a few members of the crowd, who fidgeted nervously.

At that moment, the clouds broke, streaming moonlight onto the deserted street. "Get ready!" a voice snapped, and all of the wands raised. The woman pointed hers towards the center of the circle, and began to speak. A long stream of words left her lips, far longer than any conventional spell. They seemed to fall with great weight upon the air, and the area became deadly silent, apart from the continued sound of rain.

After several minutes of chanting, the woman stopped suddenly, panting. The others in the circle looked around nervously for a sign that the spell had worked. Without warning, an inhumane scream split the air. Several people jumped. In the center of the circle there was a great flash of light, filled with images of a terrible fight. The sounds of clashing metal, and more terrible screaming issued from the scene. Huge, grotesque monsters floated through the air, firing upon the humans below them.

From in the scene, a girls voice cried "Look out!", before a deafening explosion filled the air, both on the street and in the phantom image. Bodies were flung back from the blast, and the light increased, becoming blinding, before vanishing. The sound of rain once again filled the street.

The cloaked figures began to pick themselves up from the ground, groaning. The woman dashed towards the center of the blast, wand held aloft, only to shriek in rage at what she saw. Instead of the monsters from the scene, there lay a battered young man, bleeding and unconscious, a long scarf tangled around him.

Before anyone could react, there were loud cracks all around them, and new figures, this time unmasked, appeared. Someone shrieked "The Order" before a blasts of colored light once again lit the dark street.

Harry was upset. This of course, was nothing new. He was usually upset these days, between Voldemort's rebirth, the Ministry of Magic, and the fact that the Order of Phoenix seemed to like keeping him in the dark. The fact that his hearing had gone well had been a small respite, but because Dumbledore wouldn't even look at him through the whole thing, his temper hadn't been particularly alleviated.

But today he was upset because something big was happening, and no one would give him a straight answer of what. Members of the order had started appearing about an hour ago, only to dash off again. Tonks, Kinsley, Mad-eye Moody, and even professor Lupin had only told him 'later', before hurrying away. Mrs. Weasley wouldn't say anything, and glared so hard a Sirius when he tried, that Sirius had slunk off, looking frustrated, but also a bit afraid.

So now Harry had to wait, or try to figure it out himself. Well, not really, seeing as how his friends, Ron and Hermione were with him, as well as Ron's siblings, Fred, George, and Ginny. But Harry wasn't exactly in the mood to reasoning with himself.

"Maybe," said Ron looking eager, "maybe they got some really good lead on were You-Know-Who is, and they're going to take him out."

Hermione just gave him a withering look, while the twins guffawed. "Right" Fred laughed, "because the Order just suddenly knows where You-Know-Who is, and how to kill him." George chimed in "Why, don't you know Fred? They also found a cure for werewolves, and can make perfect cake every time!" The twins and Ginny laughed, and even Harry couldn't help but chuckle.

"It could happen." Ron muttered, flushing.

"Personally," Hermione said, looking grim, "I think there has been some kind of attack. That's the only good reason to send so many people out of hiding."

"Way to help the mood, Hermione." Fred said, rolling his eyes. Hermione just huffed. "Well excuse me for actually trying to figure out what's going on!'

"No," Harry spoke up for the first time, causing the others to look at him. "I think Hermione's right. The only reason they would all be so worried is if something big was happening." The others looked grim at his words.

"But what?" Ginny asked quietly

"Well, so long as no one we know dies…" Ron said, which made Hermione elbow him sharply.

They had all been sitting in heavy silence for several minutes, when the sound of the front door slamming open and many feet were heard. The teenagers all looked at each other briefly, before rushing down the stairs.

Mrs. Black's portrait had been disturbed by the noise, and was screaming at all of the people clustered in the hall. Sirius and Mr. Weasley were struggling to pull the curtains back over her. Sirius gave Harry a grim smile as he entered the front hallway.

Several order members stood there, rain soaked and tired looking, but mostly uninjured, which instantly filled Harry with relief. Mrs. Weasley was bustling about, checking on people, and trying to get wet coats off, when Harry heard her gasp.

"What…who-" Kingsley Shaklebolt cut her off. "We found him at the center of a blast site, surrounded by Death Eaters. He was already like this."

Harry hurried forward, Ron and Hermione at his heels. Kingsley and Lupin were supporting a red-haired young man. He was pale, and barely conscious. One of his arms has held at an awkward angle, and he was covered in blood. Ron swore at the sight.

"He was with the Death Eaters? And you just brought him here!" Sirius had finally shut the curtains on his mother's portrait.

"Does he really look like a Death Eater?" Lupin asked, softly "please, he needs help. He must be important for Voldemort to have captured him." Sirius looked torn.

"We can always obliviate him later." Lupin added. "He wouldn't be able to find this place."

With a sigh, Sirius shrugged looking tired. Mrs. Weasley rushed forward. "Come on, let's get him upstairs. And you lot-" She added in a harsher voice, looking at her children, Harry and Hermione.

"Molly…" Mr. Weasley said pleadingly . She looked exasperated. "All right, fine! But clear out of the hall. There's tea in the kitchen."

"I'd best be off." Kingsley said, moving towards the door. Moody grunted, and followed him, with Tonks trailing after, and almost falling over the umbrella stand. "I'll be by as soon as I can, probably next morning, to talk about.." He glanced at the underage wizards "what happened tonight. Goodnight all." With that, he was out the door and gone.

Sirius hurried forward to help with the injured man, and Mrs. Weasley once again shoed everyone out of the hallway. They went quietly, too eager to discuss the night's happenings to argue.

A wild Lavi appears!

Bellatrix uses Magic.

It's super effective!

Please review!


	2. Chapter 2

A/N Sorry, this took longer to write than I expected. The next chapter shouldn't be so long in coming!

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter or -Man

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><p>Shortly afterward, the group was assembled in the kitchen of 12 Grimmauld place. Harry didn't even notice the dim, dusty room, he was so focused on the mysterious young man. Everyone around the table had chipped mugs of tea before them, but they were all growing cold. No one was in the mood for food.<p>

"So," Fred started "What exactly is going on around here tonight?" Mr. Weasley looked uncomfortable at the question. All of the other teens stared at him, waiting for an answer, which only seemed to increase his discomfort.

"Er…maybe we should wait until your mo- er… everyone else gets down here."

Ginny smiled a little "You're just afraid of what Mum will do if she finds out you told us." This caused her brothers to chuckle. Mr. Weasley glanced behind him, which only made them laugh harder.

Harry stared into his now not-so-warm tea, feeling frustrated. Why wouldn't anyone tell him anything? Hadn't he shown he was mature enough to handle it? Wasn't he the one who had seen Voldemort return, just a few months before? Why did they all insist on treating him like a child?

His brooding was just beginning to make him angry again, when Sirius, Lupin, and Mrs. Weasley walked through the kitchen door. Everyone at the table, Mr. Weasley included, looked at Lupin expectantly. He sat down with a sigh, looking worn and tired.

"Tea, anyone?" Mrs. Weasley asked, walking towards the stove "Remus?"

"Yes, thanks Molly." He rubbed his temples, causing Sirius to laugh and mutter something that sounded like 'Old man' as he sat.

"So," Ron looked excited "What happened?" Mrs. Weasley frowned and turned to him with a sharp "Ron!"

Harry thought this was a perfectly legitimate question, and couldn't help the little burst of anger that filled him.

"Well…" Lupin said slowly, glancing at Mrs. Weasley as he did so. "The order got a warning tonight, from our spy…" he looked at the other order members, who nodded understanding. Harry felt his frustration increase just a little more. "…saying that the Death Eaters were up to something, trying to create or summon some kind of weapon."

"Weapon?" Harry and Hermione spoke at the same time, and glanced at each other.

"Yes, some kind of half metal, half flesh creature, made specifically to kill. There are legends about them, and stories in old wizarding books, and even a few muggle ones, apparently." Hermione looked interested at this, and asked "I've never read anything about them. What were they called."

Lupin focused his glaze from the tabletop to Hermione. "No one has ever been able to decide. Sometimes they're called death bringers, or the devil's army, or hell's angels. Others call them demons, bakemono, or akuma. Mad-eye even said, he's the one who told me all of this, that one old monk called them level two, which means, to Mad-eye at least, that they can get stronger."

"So the death eaters were trying to create one of these- things?" Harry asked, aghast at the thought.

Lupin frowned a little "Maybe 'create' isn't the right word. Apparently these things lived in another time, or world or something, I didn't quite get that part. The Death Eaters were trying to summon one."

"It- it didn't work, did it?" Hermione sounded frightened at the idea.

"We don't think so." Lupin said, which didn't seem to reassure Hermione. "When we arrived, the Death Eaters were all disoriented, or unconscious. It looked like there had been some kind of an explosion. That's how we took care of things so quickly. We had expected more of a fight, and maybe even one of the monsters."

"So that fellow upstairs," Harry clarified "was right were the monster should have been. And everyone was alright to just bring him here?"

"I understand your concerns, Harry, but Kingsley and Mad-eye were both confident that he was safe enough to bring, and that he could be contained if necessary. As I understand it, there were people that fought these monsters, an order of some kind, and they think he might have been one of them."

"So, he's on our side?" Ron asked, nervously. The adults all glanced at each other. Harry felt his stomach sink at the looks on their faces.

"Not- not necessarily. This order… well, some of the things they are said to have done weren't exactly… moral."

"So basically," Harry was beginning to feel dread. "We just let a complete stranger in, who may or may not be a complete monster." No one spoke for a moment, all clearly thinking the same thing. Finally, Mrs. Weasley spoke with clearly faked cheerfulness.

"I'm sure that Kinsley and Mad-eye know what they're doing. There's no point worrying about it tonight!"

The twins both began to speak, but she cut them off. "It's getting terribly late. Bed, all of you!" They all began to protest, but her sharp "Bed!" made everyone decide that being banished was much preferable to a tongue lashing.

On the way up the stairs, Hermione gave Ron and Harry a significant look as she went into the room she shared with Ginny. Harry and Ron continued, and soon reached their own room.

The dismal surroundings did little to help Harry's mood. Ron pulled off his trainers, and grumbling, changed into his nightclothes. After a moment of hesitation, Harry did the same.

Laying down, he thought that sleep would never be able to come, there was so much to think about. But soon, the room seemed to be growing further away, and suddenly, nothing was quite so pressing. He would figure things out, in just… a… minute….

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><p>The next thing that Harry knew, sun was shining through the musty curtains on the window, and Ron was snoring in the bed next to his. For a moment, Harry felt confused. Something had happened, something…big. Then it hit him. The Order. The mysterious stranger. Harry dressed quickly, and hurried down the stairs. It seemed that he was not the only one still curious, as Ginny and Hermione were all ready sitting at the table, as was Sirius, though he seemed significantly less awake.<p>

"Good morning Harry." Mrs. Weasley said brightly, while the girls waved at him. "Go ahead and have a seat, why don't you." Harry did, and helped himself to a piece of toast. He looked eagerly at Hermione, ready to bring up last night, when she motioned at Mrs. Weasley, who was watching them all closely. When she saw Harry looking at her, she smiled, looking a bit strained, and turned away. But Harry got the hint. Wait.

During his second piece of toast, Ron stomped in, still mostly asleep. Sitting down by Harry, he said "You could have waken me up, you know." Harry was about to reply, a response a bit rude, but rather funny forming in his mind, when Fred and George apperated right behind him. Everyone at the table jumped, and Mrs. Weasley dropped a spoon, with an exasperated cry of "Really?".

"Morning!" the twins chorused cheerfully, sitting themselves next to Sirus, who seemed to have finally woken up, and was grinning into his eggs. "How is everyone?" George asked brightly.

"Was better 'till you lot showed up." Ron groused.

"Oh, didn't mean to scare 'ickle-Ronny-kins!" Fred taunted. Ron's face was quickly turning red, when a voice sounded from the door.

"'Ickle-Ronny-kins?" it chuckled. Everyone turned at the sound of the unfamiliar voice. The young man from the night before was standing there, grinning awkwardly at all of the gazes directly towards him.

"Um, hi?" He waved a little, then winced, grabbing his shoulder. "I heard voices, so…" Everyone continued to stare at him.

He was, Harry thought, quite a strange sight. He looked younger that Harry had thought, maybe eighteen at the most. His wild hair was the brightest red Harry had ever seen, bright enough to put the Weasley's to shame. In fact, everything about him seemed, bright, from his hair to his clothes, dirty and torn as they were, to his eyes. Or rather, eye, as the right one was covered in an black patch.

"Um…" he chuckled nervously, as no one had yet said anything, or even moved. This seemed to snap Mrs. Weasley out of her stupor.

"Oh my goodness, I'm so sorry! Imagine waking up in a stranger's house, and no one around. I'm so sorry dear. How are you feeling?" she bustled him over to the table and sat him between Fred and Hermione. "How's your shoulder. I patched it up best I could , but I didn't want to use any healing spells on it while you were unconscious."

"Mum, stop talking, you're scaring the guy." Fred said, looking amused, but also, strangely cautions about said 'guy'.

The young man laughed again, he seemed to do that a lot, and said "No, it's okay. I'm fine, and- wait," his expression became confused. "'healing spell?'" The whole table went silent again. Was this guy a muggle? Could muggles get into places like number 12? And wait, how had he seen the address if he had been unconscious? Harry felt paranoia fill him once again.

"Well, yes…" Mrs. Weasley seemed at a loss of what to say. "I mean, you are… but I thought…" She looked just as confused as the rest of them. Sirus took this as his moment to speak.

"I'm Sirius Black." he held his hand out. The name seemed to get no reaction from the redhead, no look of horror or disbelief. Blimey, maybe this guy really was a muggle.

He shook Sirus' hand, saying "I'm Lavi" he looked around the table, a funny, bemused expression on his face. "So you lot are wizards? Sorry, I haven't really met any of your kind before, kind of took me by surprise."

Harry was confused. Was this guy a wizard or wasn't he? If he wasn't then how on earth did he know…

"Our kind? So, you're not a wizard?" Ginny looked as perplexed as Harry felt. "Then, how do you know about us?"

Lavi, what a strange name, chuckled a little, this time sounding rather annoyingly smug, and said "It's my job." Everyone watched him a moment longer, but no further information seemed forthcoming. After a moment he spoke, his voice one again cheerful and light. "I'm starving, can I have something to eat?"

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><p>Please review!<p> 


	3. Chapter 3

Alright, I really have no excuse for this taking so long, other than downright laziness. I'm sorry, I'm sorry! Don't hurt me!

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><p>Within minutes, Lavi had a plateful of food, and was shoveling it in his mouth like he might never eat again. Harry would have been rather impressed, but had spent the last five years with Ron, who ate like that on a regular basis. To no one's great surprise, Hermione looked disgusted, but was to polite to say otherwise.<p>

Harry was still reeling. What did Lavi mean, 'it was his job?' What kind of job involved muggles knowing about wizards? He locked eyes with Sirius from across the table, who gave him a significant, 'don't say anything, just wait.' kind of look. With a sigh, Harry returned to his toast.

"So," Lavi's voice came again, slightly muffled by food. He swallowed. "You're Sirius, but what about the rest of you?" He looked around the table, his constant smile looked a little bit faked.

"Oh!" Hermione exclaimed, having just realized that he had no idea who they were. "Sorry, I'm Hermione Granger."

"Ginny Weasley"

"Yeah, I'm Fred, and this is George"

"No, come off it, I'm Fred!"

Mrs. Weasley cleared her throat loudly at this point, cutting off what was sure to be a rather entertaining show. Lavi looked rather amused.

"Fred, George, got it! And you?" He turned to Harry.

"Er, Harry Potter." Again, no response, other than a nod. Well if it was his job to know about wizards than he was failing badly.

"Ron Weasley."

"And I'm Molly Weasley. You can just call me Molly, dear."

"Right!" Lavi was still grinning. Did he ever stop? "So, um, no offense, but where am I?"

After a few seconds of rather awkward silence, Sirius spoke up again. "You're in my house, number 12 Grimmauld Place."

"And, where is that? Last I remember, I was in France, but you people don't seem very French to me. Too little 'honhonhon!' and too much tea."

Harry rather distinctly heard Fred and George laugh at this statement, but was too busy trying to figure out what it meant to really care.

"Er…" Sirius sounded like he was struggling to hold back his mirth. "It's in London, actually."

"Oh." Lavi looked bemused "Really? How the heck did we get in London."

The kitchen went silent again.

Mrs. Weasley took it upon herself to speak this time. "We?"

"Yeah, me and Lenalee, and Bookman, my teacher, and Krory. Aren't they…" he trailed off, the smile completely vanishing. He looked from face to face. "Please tell me they're here."

"I'm…I'm afraid not. We only found you at the scene."

He looked devastated for a moment, before becoming rather stoic. "Scene?"

It seemed that even Sirius didn't quite know how to explain how Lavi had come to be in London. He looked at Mrs. Weasley, who looked just as hopeless as Sirius. Lavi was looked more worried by the second. Harry decided to take matters into his own hands.

"Yeah." all eyes snapped to him. "There are these people, Death Eaters, and they're… well they work for a guy called Voldemort." everyone shuddered, "who's trying to take over the world, sort of. And we think that last night they tried to summon some kind of monster, but things went wrong, and you just… showed up I guess. I dunno, I wasn't really there, but that's was Lupin said last night."

Lavi was staring at him. His one eye seemed to bore a hole through Harry. It was kind of creepy, so he looked away.

"Tried…" his voice cracked, and he cleared his throat. "tried to summon a monster?"

"Yeah," Ron seemed to have been heartened by Harry's willingness to speak. "Yeah, Lupin said they were some old monster from books and stuff. He called them…shoot, what did he call them?"

Hermione took a deep breath, and spoke "He said they were the devil's army, death bringers, demons. One man called them s-seconds levels, was it?"

"Level two?" Lavi asked, looking worried again.

"Yes that was it. Lupin said they were half metal, and half alive. Living weapons."

Lavi swore, then looked up at everyone. "They're called Akuma, and they are extremely dangerous. However the whole 'summoning' crap worked, you're probably better off having me instead of one of them." He looked down and mumbled something that sounded rather like 'but I'm not.'

"Is there any chance these Death Eaters will try it again?"

"Probably." Sirius said, "they're frustratingly tenacious like that."

Lavi swore again. Mrs. Weasley looked worriedly at all of the morose faces, then spoke. "Well I'm sure that Dumbledore and the Order will take care of things. There's nothing for all of you to worry about. Now, I need to clean up in here, and you've all been sitting around forever. Out!"

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><p>Harry, Ron, and Hermione had gone back to the room that Ron and Harry shared. Everyone else had vanished off to other parts of the house, including Lavi. Harry rather felt that the guy gave off a very secretive vibe. He certainly seemed good at getting them all to spill their guts without explaining anything about himself.<p>

As soon as the door was shut, Ron turned to the other two. "So, what do you think?"

"Well," Hermione sighed "He's certainly very secretive. I mean, that entire conversation, and all we know is that his first name is Lavi, and he has a teacher called Bookman."

"Yeah, what was up with that? That's not a real name, is it?" Ron looked between them.

"Maybe it's a title." Harry suggested. "I'm still trying to figure out how he knows about magic if he's not a wizard."

"Maybe he's a squib?" Ron tried.

"Or he could be like Harry's aunt and uncle. He has a magical relative, but can't use it himself. But I think you're both overlooking the biggest problem."

"What's that?" Harry asked

"Well, where ever he's from, there are these akuma things. But I've never even heard of them, until last night, and the Death Eaters had to summon him. Where did he come from, and how on earth is he going to get back?"

"Couldn't the Order do some kind of, I dunno, reverse summon? Just send him back the same way?" Ron asked. "I mean, with Dumbledore and all, it can't be that hard, right?"

"Oh, Ron." Hermione said in her exasperated, 'don't you ever read' tone. "It's not that simple. Summoning, real summoning is seriously complicated. You have to know just where whatever you're summoning is coming from, and do all kinds of magic to get ready. It could take years to do a summoning. I can't imagine trying to do it the other way."

"So," Harry said slowly, a rather nasty idea dawning on him, "What you're saying is, he's stuck?"

The look Hermione gave him was all the answer Harry needed.


	4. Chapter 4

Eh hehe... uh, hi there! So this isn't super late, right? It's only been uh *looks*... two months... he he.

I got distracted! I'm soooo sorry! It's Hetaoni's fault! Darn you Steve!

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter. Nor do I own D. Gray-Man, which is probably a good thing, because then it would never be updated.

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><p>Harry, Hermione, and Ron had been in Ron's room for nearly an hour, discussing the Order, Voldemort's plans, and most of all, the mysterious Lavi. Frustration could be seen on all of their faces, especially Harry's, who had already been annoyed for the length of the summer. No matter how much they thought and talked, no one could seem to come to any real conclusions about, well, anything. Hermione was wishing for the school library, and Ron was clearly sick of the entire topic. They had been just about to come to blows, or at least a yelling match, when there was a knock on the door.<p>

"Ron, Harry, are you in there?" It was Mrs. Weasley. Ron, Harry and Hermione looked at each other, a little bit wary, before Ron answered, "Yeah, we're here Mum."

Mrs. Weasley pushed open the door the peeling door, and walked into the room, looking disapproving of the mess scattered about. Which really wasn't fair, Harry thought, as most of it had been there before they came. He then realized that he was preparing arguments for a confrontation that hadn't happened, which was ridiculous, and put his mind back to Mrs. Weasley.

She stepped further into the room, looking behind herself, and saying "Now, don't be shy dear, come on!" Lavi stepped into the doorway behind her, surreptitiously clutching his shoulder, and looking the furthest thing from shy, though perhaps a bit abashed. Harry noticed that the torn and filthy jacket he'd had on at breakfast was gone, leaving only a slightly less torn and filthy green shirt beneath it. He had not, however, abandoned his long, red scarf, even with the temperature in the house beginning to rise as the day began.

Mrs. Weasley looked at Ron. "Lavi needs something to wear until I have the chance to go out shopping." Lavi began to protest that she didn't have to, but she cut him off, saying "Nonsense dear. It's certainly not your fault you ended up here, and I would feel just terrible if you had to go around wearing that all the time." She gave his filthy clothes a disgusted look. "Although… they might have to be second hand. What with school coming…" she trailed off, clearly thinking to herself of how to pay for it all.

Harry always felt guilty when it was brought up how poor the Weasleys really were. What with the piles of gold his parents had left him, and his friends often second hand books and clothing, he thought that it was not quite fair. But although they needed the gold far more than him, Harry knew that the Weasleys would never, ever accept any he tried to give them.

"Anyway" Mrs. Weasley had snapped herself out of her thoughts. "I thought that some of Ron's things would fit well enough for the time being!" She looked at Ron, who stared back blankly for a moment, before saying "Oh, right!" and diving for his trunk.

His digging quickly produced some of the Muggle clothes that all of the Weasley children wore during the holidays. "You can try this stuff, mate." He handed a rather rumpled pile of clothes to Lavi, carefully avoiding his mother's eye. Mrs. Weasley, however, didn't say anything about the state of the clothes, and turned to Lavi, saying "Go ahead and try them on. I'll wait outside. Come on Hermione." She carefully, but firmly pulled Hermione out the door, shutting it behind her.

Lavi turned to Ron, eyebrow's raised, and smirking a bit. "Got you on quite a short leash, hasn't she?"

"Oh, shut up." Ron's face had turned red.

Lavi just chuckled, and began to remove his long scarf, and shirt. Harry didn't want to look, because that was rude, and more than a little awkward, staring at another guy shirtless, but he couldn't help but have his eyes caught by the dozens of scars across Lavi's back and arms. They ranged from thin cuts to massive blotchy patches of what looked like burns, to one that looked suspiciously like a gunshot wound. Not all of them were old and healed either. There were several scrapes, cuts and bruises that looked very recent, not to mention the bloody bandages across his left shoulder.

Harry looked at Ron, who looked back at him with wide eyes. How on earth could someone just a little older than them have gotten hurt this much? Before either of them had a chance to say anything, Lavi had pulled on a faded black T-shirt, saying "What's this shirt made of? I've never felt anything so stretchy before."

"Er," Ron looked back at Lavi, trying to pretend he hadn't just been freaked out by Lavi's scars. "I dunno. It's just a regular old Muggle shirt."

Lavi stared at Ron for a moment, clearly confused, before shrugging it off and finishing changing. He didn't comment on the jeans, and pulled his own boots back on over the top. Harry noticed him inconspicuously tie a little black pouch around his leg, which he thought was a rather odd place to keep something.

"There!" Lavi exclaimed, after throwing the scarf back around his neck. "Not bad, eh?" To be honest, he looked a little ridiculous in the long scarf and t-shirt, with Ron's pants, which were too long, bunched up around his legs, but Harry refrained from commenting.

Mrs. Weasley pushed open the door upon hearing Lavi's shout. "Ah, that's much better, isn't it?" She also ignored the fact that the newcomer looked a little strange, but then again, perhaps she just didn't get muggle fashion. "That should do for today. We'll all be going to Diagon Alley when your letters arrive, so Lavi can just borrow some clothes until then." She looked quite satisfied with this arrangement, and after making sure that Lavi was also pleased (though Harry thought that she didn't really leave him a chance voice his own thoughts) she left to do…whatever it was she did when she wasn't mothering.

"So…" Lavi looked at the other three teenagers "what letters?"

Harry, Ron, and Hermione looked at each other, rather unsure if they should be telling this stranger about Hogwarts.

"Well…" Hermione began slowly, glancing back at the boys again "Our supply lists for our school. Classes will be starting again soon, so…" she trailed off, unsure of how to continue.

"What school is that? Hogwarts is the magical school for Britain, isn't it?" He looked rather innocent, but his comments instantly sent Harry's brain into overdrive. Not only was he a muggle who knew about magic, he knew about Hogwarts! And possibly other magical schools, by the way he spoke.

"Yeah, but how'd you know about that, mate? I thought you were a muggle?" Hermione elbowed Ron for his comments.

"Well, I am, or at least I think I am. But like I said, it's my job to know these things!" Harry thought he looked far to pleased with himself at this.

"But, it's supposed to be a secret." Hermione protested "There are laws about telling muggles, and the statute of secrecy, and spells to keep people from seeing it!"

"Ah, but I'm not a regular old person, now am I?" If anything, Lavi looked even more smug. Harry would have laughed at how annoyed Hermione looked, if he weren't quite so annoyed himself.

"Hang on." A thought had just occurred to Harry "What are you going to do when we all go off to school? I mean, are they just going to leave you here with Sirus, or what?" Hermione and Ron looked startled by this thought, and looked at Lavi, who just shrugged.

"I dunno. I don't think your order people have decided what to do with me. But somehow I don't think they'll just let me go off on my own. I know to much." He looked delighted again, in a practiced way, as if he often knew too much. Somehow, Harry wouldn't be surprised if he did.

* * *

><p>Nearly a week had passed since the arrival of Lavi. All of the others living in 12 Grimmauld place had become rather accustomed to having him around. Fred and George especially seemed to like him for his penchant for pranking. He was also quite helpful for spying on order meeting, once you could get him to be quiet. Despite this, no one had really learned much more about him, other than the fact that he had a best friend named Kanda and loved steak. No one had even managed to get his last name. He still claimed not to have one.<p>

On the very last day of the holidays Harry was sweeping up Hedwig's owl droppings from the top of the wardrobe and having a rather meaningless conversation with Lavi when Ron entered the bedroom that he, Harry, and Lavi had all been sharing, while carrying a couple of envelopes.

"Booklists have arrived," he said, throwing one of the envelopes to Harry. "About time, I thought they'd forgotten, they usually come much earlier than this… Oh, and mum said she wanted to talk to you downstairs." He gestured towards Lavi.

Lavi put the stack of books he had been looking through back on Harry's bed, stretched, and meandered out of the room. Harry had already opened his letter, and looked through his list of books for the year when Fred and George apperated right beside him. He was so used to them doing this by now that he didn't even fall off his chair.

"So, any idea what'll happen to that Lavi bloke now that we're going off to school?" said Fred conversationally.

"'Cause staying here with just Sirius seems a bit…dull." George added. Fred an Harry grimaced a bit at this. Sirius had become quite gloomy during the last week, after realizing that all of his company couldn't stay forever. Being stuck with just him and the occasional order member didn't sound particularly appealing to Harry.

"I wonder if Dumbledore has figured out how to send him home yet." said Harry, feeling a bit put out that Dumbledore was probably spending more time worrying about Lavi than him, then realized that this made his sound like a selfish brat. He was contemplating this idea when Fred spoke again.

"What's up with you, Ron?"

Ron did not answer. Harry looked around. Ron was standing very still, with his mouth slightly open, gaping at his letter from Hogwarts.

"What's the matter?" said Fred impatiently, moving around Ron to look over his shoulder at the parchment.

Fred's mouth fell open too.

"Prefect?" He said, staring incredulously at the letter "Prefect?"

"Hold on" Lavi had returned. He stood on tiptoe to stare over Fred and Ron's shoulders at the letter. "What's a prefect?"

* * *

><p>It had taken almost an hour to get everything sorted out, the concept of prefects explained to Lavi, and the twins off of Ron's back. Hermione, as it turned out, had been made a prefect to, and could not have been more excited. She had dashed off to send a letter to her parents, taking Hedwig with her.<p>

Harry, Ron and Lavi now sat alone in their room, while Harry and Ron tried to collect their vastly scattered possessions. Lavi seemed to have the magical ability to keep all of his things in one place, though perhaps that was because he didn't have very many things. He was still borrowing Ron's clothes, and didn't seem to have any personal possessions other than the little pouch he always kept strapped to his leg.

"So," Ron said finally, "what're you going to do now, mate?" he looked at Lavi. Harry stopped packing, to listen.

Lavi took a moment to figure out what he meant, then his face brightened. "That's right! I have special "express permission" or something from your school. I'm coming with you guys, as a foreign exchange student or something." He seemed to think that this was pretty amusing. "That McGonagall lady said a lot of stuff about, 'unique opportunity' and 'wonderful experience for Hogwarts', and a bunch of other crap." He smirked and tapped his nose "I'm pretty sure it means they want to keep and eye on me, ya' know?"

"So they're letting you come?" Ron looked excited. "That's great!

"Brilliant!" added Harry, who had come to like the quirky, friendly redhead over the last week. A thought occurred to him "What year are you going to be in? You're a bit older than us, aren't you?"

"Yeah," Lavi nodded "but I've only read up to fifth year material, and any age difference can be chalked up to me being 'foreign'".

Harry's mouth dropped open, and he glanced at Ron, who looked equally shocked. He had read the material for the last four years? All of it? But it had only been a week!

Harry's old feeling of worry resurfaced as he stared at Lavi. There was something beneath his happy demeanor that just wasn't…. normal.

* * *

><p>AN: seriously you guys, thanks so much for all of the review, and for being patient with me. I love you all so much! :D

And to everyone who keeps seeing Hetalia references; get a grip you obsessed fan people! ;D They weren't there on purpose! (It's my subconscious. It think's in Nation-tans. Just pretend I meant to do that.)

Please review!


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